Family, as you know, we’ve spent the better
part of our lives researching and writing about our brothers and
sisters, the Saints. We’re referring to those special friends of Jesus
who have been canonized, beatified or made venerable by Mother Church.
But have you ever heard the expression about someone you know who has
passed on “If so-and-so
doesn’t go straight up to Heaven, none of us have a chance?”
We’re talking about people who we’ve called “Living Saints”
during their time on earth. Very often, we find ourselves praying to
the recently departed soul for their intercession with Our Lord Jesus.
We say things like, “Please, go to the feet of Our dear Lord Jesus and
ask for His help” in any given situation. And very often, our prayers
are answered.

An example would have been Blessed Pope John
Paul II. While he was with us on earth, we referred to him as a living
Saint. We often maintained that he had a direct line to Heaven. Well,
in his case, this was borne out by his Beatification on May 1, 2011.
But his being beatified in such a short period of time after his death
(5 years) is an unusual case. With the exception of Mother Teresa, who
was beatified 6 years after her death, most causes for beatification and
canonization in the modern church drag on for years. At one point,
nothing of any importance took place in less than 50 years after the
death of the Saint-to-be.

In this issue of our Good Newsletter, we
wrote little tributes to two brothers whom we believe were living Saints
during their lifetimes, Ben Pinter and George Helow. These were two men
whom we knew were close to God. You could just tell by everything they
said and did. There was nothing you could put your finger on, but you
just knew there was something special about them.

There is a Scripture Passage

“Be not forgetful to
entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained Angels unaware.”
Hebrews 13:2

We’re not going to give Ben Pinter and
George Helow the title of Angels, because we knew them as men. But who
are we to define who is and who is not an Angel? And does God send
Angels down to earth purely to do the work that we’re familiar with, to
protect and guide us? Can God not send Angels to give us examples of
how we should live our lives, how we are to worship God, how we are to
love one another? We know that Angels can take on many forms, based on
what the work is that they are sent to do. In Don Bosco’s life, it is
believed that his Guardian Angel was a big ugly dog, whom he called “Il
Grigio” the grey one. There are examples all through his life how il
Grigio saved him from danger. Towards the end of his life, it was
suggested to him that il Grigio could be his Guardian Angel. He smiled
that mischievous smile of his and responded,
“Why not?”

Ben Pinter had 17 children, 38 grandchildren
and 15 great-grandchildren. George Helow had 6 children and 47
grandchildren. Who is to say that these two men were not Angels sent
down to teach their children and grandchildren how to live a Christian
life, so that they in turn could teach their children and grandchildren
and on and on. Then, if you consider all the people who came in contact
with these two men, ourselves for instance, how much could their
influence spread? If that were so, we really could change the world,
couldn’t we?

This article is not about Ben Pinter and
George Helow, although it could be. This article is about all the
people around us who may be Angels sent down from Heaven to guide us
through our Pilgrimage of life, to help keep us on the straight and
narrow path. When you go to Church this weekend, look at someone there
whom you admire. In your job, take notice of someone whom you believe
is an honorable person. In your choice of political candidates, look
for people whom you believe represent the best Christian values. Don’t
worry about whether they seem to be electable or not. Let God take care
of that. Consider that these people may possibly be Angels sent by God
to save our country and our world. And keep in mind,

“Be not forgetful to
entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained Angels unaware.”
Hebrews 13:2

We are so proud of this
next step in our dear son’s walk serving the Lord through His most
precious Church.

Fr. Jay called us in December of last year
to tell us that he had been honored by Rome. He was to be invested as
Monsignor, and Chaplain to the Holy Father. We panicked when he told us
this because we feared that he would be leaving New Mexico to go to
Rome. He had been asked to teach at the Gregorian Institute in Rome
some years ago but had to turn it down because of the pollution in
Rome. He reassured us he was not leaving New Mexico, but that he had
been assigned, as part of his new position of Monsignor, to pray
constantly for the Holy Father’s intentions, his health and his
pontificate. We breathed a sigh of relief. Then he told us that the
investiture would be held at his parish, Annunciation Parish in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday, January 13, 2012. We immediately
made arrangements to be there for that auspicious occasion.

You have to understand that Fr. Voorhies has
been a major part of our lives and our ministry since we met him in
1988. Yes, he was just a baby priest at the time. He was an associate
at the Cathedral of Lafayette in Louisiana. We became very close. His
mother and father actually asked us to be his “second parents” as we
spent so much time with him. They asked us to guide him wherever
possible in his vocation, and pray for him, which we have done every day
since we met him. They also asked us to try to get him to eat a little
more and gain some weight, which we were not able to do. However, his
appetite improved dramatically. Praise God!

Fr. Jay has been with us on many pilgrimages
over the years. He played a great part in the Holy Family Mission. In
2000, he concelebrated the dedication Mass and blessing of Holy Family
Mission, and was instrumental in the consecration of Our Lady of Loreto
here in Arkansas. He actually carried the statue of Our Lady out of the
Holy House in Loreto, Italy, in 1996 and brought it with us to the
United States. Some seven years later, in 2003, he brought it from a
make-shift tent at the Holy Family Mission where we held our conferences
at the time, to its final place of honor at the replica of the Holy
House which we built here in Arkansas. He and Fr. Pablo Straub
processed the statue into the Holy House and blessed it. We went to
Albuquerque in 2006 to celebrate his 25th Anniversary as a
priest. He came to Arkansas in 2008 to celebrate the 50th
Anniversary of our marriage. He also gave the eulogy that day. He has
been the keynote speaker at our annual conferences here at the Holy
Family Mission since 2001. So you can understand that we have been
together for a long time.

The investiture ceremony was magnificent.
Archbishop Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe celebrated the Mass
and installed Fr. Jay to his new title of Monsignor Bennett J. Voorhies.
There were anywhere from 50 to 60 priests in attendance, including
Monsignor’s brother, Fr. Tom Voorhies. Monsignor’s sister Pat was in
attendance. His mother was not able to be there. She is still mourning
the death of her husband and our dear friend, Ben Voorhies, who passed
on in March of 2011. The church was filled, with many people standing
in the back and along the sides. We’re glad we got there early and that
we were related to the new Monsignor, or we would have been sitting in
the parking lot.

There was a beautiful
reception in the Parish Hall following the ceremony. Poor Monsignor
Voorhies stood for over two hours as well-wishers came up to
congratulate him on this great honor. Although he was ready to collapse
after it was over, he would gladly have stayed on his feet for another
two hours if need be, just to be able to be with his parishioners and
former parishioners.

We wish Monsignor Voorhies all God’s
blessings in this next step in his vocation. We know that you will be
as excited as we when he resumes his role as keynote speaker this
September when we have our annual conference again here in Arkansas.
The theme this year is Faith and Family. Our new Monsignor will be an
inspiration to us all, we are sure. God bless you, Monsignor Bennett J.
Voorhies. We love you!

On August 21, 1879, a
rainy day to be sure, our Lady came to Knock, Ireland, with St. Joseph,
St. John the Evangelist, a Paschal Lamb, and a Heavenly Army of Angels.
She appeared at the back of the Knock church, and stayed there, with
fourteen visionaries, for a period of about three hours, in the pouring
rain. But in all that time, She never said a word to anyone, nor did
She even acknowledge their being there, except when one of them got too
close, fourteen year old Patrick Hill, at which point our Lady moved
back away from the child. During the investigations which followed the
apparition of Mary, a great obstacle was the fact that She said
nothing. Till today, Knock has never been officially approved by the
Church, even though two Popes have visited the Shrine, the most recent
being the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Apparition, August
21, 1979, when Pope John Paul II came as a pilgrim to Knock Shrine, and
left Our Lady of Knock a gold rose..

When we first wrote of Knock and our Lady’s
Apparition, in our book, The Many Faces of Mary, a love story, we
thought She said nothing because She was pleased with Her Irish children
and their faithfulness under the worst conditions. We still believe
that is true, but only part of the truth. Curiously enough, it was the
Angels that made us realize what Mary was actually doing in Knock,
Ireland.

One night, in New Orleans, while
preparing our slides for a lecture tour of that holy state, (that was
before we had made videos and DVDs, and programs for EWTN) we saw
something in the Apparition at Knock that just snapped us to attention.
It was the Angels! On the right side of the Apparition, there was an
Altar with a Lamb and a Cross, surrounded by Angels. The Angels’ wings
were fluttering in the Apparition. We had been taught, maybe a month
before this time, about St. John Chrysostom, a Doctor of the Church, one
of the Early Fathers. St. John said that when the priest extends his
hands over the bread and wine at the beginning of the Eucharistic
Prayer, he summons down the Holy Spirit! You listen the next time
you’re at Mass. The Angels don’t have the power to summon down the Holy
Spirit, but our priests, by their ordination and consecrated hands, have
been given that power. St. John taught that when the Holy Spirit
descends upon the altar, He is accompanied by tens of thousands of
Angels, present on the Altar to protect and adore the Eucharist.

That was it! That’s what Mary was
trying to tell us at Knock, Ireland in 1879. It was the Mass, the Eucharist.She was telling us to defend
the Eucharist! Our belief in, and the importance of, the
Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, is under such attack today.

Then our eyes traveled to the center
of the apparition, to St. John, dressed as a Bishop, holding open the
Book of the Gospel. The Word;
Mary was telling us to defend the Word. The Gospel is so
fragile. It’s like a crocheted sweater. If you pull one thread, the
whole sweater unravels into a heap. Cast doubt on one part of the Word,
and the rest will topple with it. Some people tell us Jesus did not
physically resurrect from the dead. It was a spiritual Resurrection.
Well, if He didn’t resurrect, as it says in Scripture, was He really
crucified? And if He wasn’t crucified, was He really born? And if He
was not really born, is there a God? So, you can see how we must defend
and protect the Word with our lives.

And then, we looked to the left, at
Mary and St. Joseph. In the slide we show, a lady was kneeling at the
side altar, and had left her infant at the feet of St. Joseph. The Family; we could see the
Family. Mary was telling us to defend the Family.

Mary was speaking to us loud and
clear at Knock. Save the Eucharist, because if you destroy the
Eucharist, you destroy the Church! Save the Word, because if you
destroy the Word, you destroy the Church! Save the Family, because if
you destroy the Family, you destroy the Church, and you destroy the
World!

Prophecy? Was Mary warning us of things to
come? Was the message of Knock for the people of Ireland of 1879, or
the people of the world of today? One year, when we were interviewing
Fr. Joseph Pio at San Giovanni Rotondo, getting background for our
documentary on Padre Pio, he called our Lady of Knock - Our Lady of the
Apocalypse!

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort said, “in
Scripture Mary was silent; but in the last days, She will be like John
the Baptist, heralding the coming of Christ. She will no longer be
silent.” In this apparition, Mary said nothing, but She said
everything. But we did not understand. In Fatima, She warned us, but
gave us a way out - “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Too
many people took that to mean we didn’t have to move a muscle. Mary was
going to take care of everything.

Now She is appearing all over the world and
She is talking, warning, pleading. But this time, She’s not talking
about how She’s going to do it, and how Her Immaculate Heart will
triumph. She’s pointing to us. She’s telling us to get up off our
duffs, and get the job done!
Save the Eucharist; Save the Word; Save the Family; Save the World.
And She’s not beyond sending Angels to teach us and direct
us, as She did at Knock and Fatima. We really believe we’re at zero
hour. These may truly be the end times, the final days. Do we dare not
listen and respond?

St. Dominic Savio – If I don’t become a
Saint, I have accomplished nothing!

Now, when we are living
in a time when children are killing children, when children cannot pray
in school, when children’s favorite toys and video games are of violence
and horror, witchcraft and satanism, it is time for them to learn about
a teen-ager who strove for and achieved Sainthood; it is time for Saint
Dominic Savio. In the year 1950, one teen-ager-Maria Goretti, age
twelve was canonized and another-Dominic Savio, age fifteen was
beatified. Then in 1954 Dominic Savio was canonized. Did the Lord in
His wisdom raise up these two young people to Sainthood to combat the
hedonistic philosophy that would pervade the world and the Church,
beginning in the 60’s?

I have a need to ask why we in the
Church were not

told about these
strong, holy role models. In a time when we parents were struck dumb and
completely helpless, watching our young drop before our eyes, from drug
overdoses, why did we not know about these Saints? Why were our
children not being taught in Catholic schools and C.C.D. programs about
Saints such as these? Why were these Saints withheld from us, Saints we
could hold up to our young, as a contrast to the drug-infested culture of death that
was being fostered through catchy music? Well, we are taking full
responsibility for our young, our right and obligation, as we read in
Vatican Council II’s Document on Christian Education. There are eight
difference references to the rights of parents as primary teachers in
this document.

The title of the book from which this
excerpt was taken is entitled Holy Innocence, The Young and
the Saintly; it could very well be entitled Heroes and
Heroines because that is what we are about, bringing you Heroes and
Heroines for today, to combat the sick role models being forced on us by
the secular world. Man has always needed role models to emulate.
Because our young have not grown up learning about the Saints, they have
sought and found heroes in the mire of this world’s decadence. This
young role model, Dominic Savio, is to let our young know that they are
precious and born to become Saints. We, the Mystical Body of Christ,
are reclaiming our young, the future of our Church, our country, our
world.

We ask our young to look into the mirror
which Jesus holds up to them, to see themselves as Jesus sees them.
This story is not for them to be another Dominic Savio, but to become
unique Saints of their own. We want them to know that they have an
opportunity to touch lives, just as Dominic did. He, like them, had the
trials and tribulations, the temptations and battles our young encounter
today, as they journey through this life to eternal life.

We often speak of clusters, God putting
people together to do His Will, not only for a particular time and
place, but for all time and every place. Saints beget Saints. One of
the biographies we referred to, to bring you this powerful holy young
Saint, was written by none other than Saint John Bosco, a Saint who had
a great impact and involvement in the life of young Dominic Savio, as
well as other Saints, some unheralded.

I believe that this true story of Dominic
Savio is to challenge the youth of today, with these words of St. John
Bosco in the preface:

“If a companion of mine, at
my own age,living right here, open to
the same, if notbigger, dangers, still
found time and means tokeep himself a
true follower of Jesus Christ,why can’t I do the
same? But bear well inmind that real
religion is not made up of onlywords; we must
come to deeds. On readingsomething you
admire, don’t be content to say,“How nice! I like
that!” Say, “I want tostrive for those
achievements which I mostadmire in others!”

Out
of the muck and mire, a rose blooms

Dominic was born of very poor but holy
peasant stock, one of ten children. Right from his earliest years,
Dominic showed clear signs of piety. His parents said he never gave
them cause for the slightest worry, was always obedient and thoughtful
of their feelings. At barely four years of age, he swiftly learned his
prayers, and could be observed reciting them alone, morning, noon and
night. Deeply attached to his mother, he only left her side to go to a
small hideaway where he could continue praying unnoticed.

He never began eating without saying Grace.
One day, his family unwittingly began eating without first having
prayed. Little Dominic cried out, “Daddy, we haven’t asked God to
bless our meal yet.” He then proceeded to make the Sign of
the Cross and began the prayer the family always recited before eating.
All joined in, and after they finished eating, they said the Angelus (as
was their custom, morning, noon and night). On another occasion, a
guest at their dinner table began eating without first saying Grace.
Young Dominic rose and left the table, retiring to a corner of the
room. When he was later questioned, as to his strange behavior, he
said, “I didn’t dare sit at
table with someone who eats like an animal.”

In his biography of this little Saint, Don
Bosco speaks not only of the extraordinary Grace bestowed upon Dominic,
but attributed much of his virtuous life to his parents and their
tireless commitment to bring him the treasures of the Church. Their
example, their daily, ongoing living out of the Faith, their praying the
Rosary and the Angelus as a family, their devout attendance at Mass,
their fidelity to the Sacraments, their faithful teaching of the
Catechism, bringing Dominic the stark reality of sin with its ultimate
destruction of the soul, and the luminous rays of piety with its eternal
reward in Heaven, molded him into the Saint he would become.

Father John Zucca said of his pupil,
Dominic, that the first time he saw him was when the lad was five years
old. As was his custom, Dominic was kneeling on the ground in front of
the Church door, waiting for it to open. This was not an isolated
case. He could be seen, every morning, praying, his eyes and heart
zeroed in on something, or was it Someone, beyond the heavy doors. It
was of no consequence if the ground was muddy and wet from the pouring
rain, Dominic knelt and prayed until the church opened.

So often we see little boys who live to
serve as Altar Servers, lose their awe and wonder of serving the Mass
when they grow older. It was not so with Dominic, who from five years
of age reverently served. His life was to attend Daily Mass, so when he
was not Altar server, he still devoutly participated in the Mass,
adoring his Lord Who was coming to life on the Altar of Sacrifice.

Dominic partakes of the Bread of Angels

He loved all the Sacraments, having learned
about them from an early age, and desired to participate in receiving
all of them, his eyes and heart set on the priesthood. When he was
barely seven, he knew his Catechism by heart and fully understood the
teachings of the Church, with spiritual wisdom way beyond his age,
especially the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. But in
those days, particularly in small country parishes, the age for
receiving First Communion was eleven or twelve. Dominic had everything
against him, but God. He was small for his age, and the priest
hesitated to receive him. The priest consulted other priests. Then
considering how well prepared Dominic was and the ardent yearning he had
to partake of the Eucharist, he allowed him to receive for the first
time the “Bread of Angels”
and his first “sweet kiss
from Jesus.”

Dominic ran home to tell his mother. He
begged pardon from her for anything he may have done to upset her and
promised to try to live a more holy life. His mother, deeply moved by
this child of hers who had visited upon her nothing by loving concern
and affection, tried to hold back the tears as she assured him all was
forgiven and asked him to pray that he would always be close to his Lord
Whom he would be receiving.

What makes a Saint? Dominic, like other
Saints before and after him, had a passion for the Bread of Life, the
Eucharist, His Lord truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The
day of his First Holy Communion, he rose early. Barely able to wait for
that glorious moment when he and the Lord would become one, he went to
the church and knelt on the ground, outside waiting for the doors to
open. The Mass, including his first Penance, lasted five hours.
Dominic never forgot that day, and when he spoke of it, years later, his
eyes misted as he said, “For
me it was the best day - it was a great day.”

Dominic and St. John Bosco meet

Dominic received the Sacrament of
Confirmation in 1853, at the age of eleven. God was formulating His
plan of holiness for Dominic Savio. The Lord had placed him in the
hands of holy parents who had nurtured his faith in God. Now, it was
time for another Saint to enter Dominic’s life. We have said over and
over again that there are Saints and Saint-makers. Dominic had been
received as a full member of the Church through the Sacrament of
Confirmation. He was ready for the next step.

If you remember, Dominic’s parents were
originally from Castelnuovo. It just happened (holy coincidence?) that
Don Bosco was originally from Castelnuovo, also known as Becchi. Don
Bosco was already well-known for his Oratory and his work with the
young. Dominic, as well as all the citizens of the area, looked upon
Don Bosco as the local boy
who made good. Dominic would tell all his friends his
greatest aspiration was to meet Don Bosco and be admitted into his
Oratory. When he was asked why, he simply replied he wanted to become a
priest, “what better way to
save his soul and do good for others.”

It was 1854, Dominic was twelve and it was
time; so the Lord used Dominic’s parish priest to speak of him to Don
Bosco, who just happened to be visiting guess where - Castelnuovo! The
priest related Dominic’s great piety and eagerness to learn, whereupon
Don Bosco agreed to meet him. Upon hearing this good news, Dominic left
immediately for Castelnuovo with his father. Boy and teacher met, and
when Don Bosco asked him why he wanted to go to Turin with him, Dominic
answered, “With God’s Grace,
I very much want to become a priest!”

Lead me not into an incident of sin

As I read about Dominic and those days, I
can see the clear parallels with today. One day, Dominic saw a crowd of
young people gathering about this man. As he drew nearer, he could hear
the man telling some very crude jokes. Many left, but others stayed,
enthralled by the charming, witty manner in which he spun his yarns so
mixed with humor, the less sensitive could not see how deeply he was
pulling them down into hell. Now, you have to picture this young
teen-ager, Dominic, slight and gentle of spirit, bravely and boldly
standing up to this eloquent speaker who now had the crowd mesmerized.
Dominic turned to the crowd and demanded they leave this man, as he was
about the business of destroying souls. When they protested, that the
man made them laugh, Dominic replied, “Yes
right to hell.”

[Do we keep watching comedy television
programs because they are funny, relaxing, even when they become lewd
and blasphemous? Are
we laughing ourselves and our children straight to hell?
Oh, I know this is a
politically incorrect statement to make today; but unless we
have young Dominic’s and older Don Bosco’s, many souls will perish; and
they will perish in hell, no matter what some dissident theologians say,
for hell is real and it is final.]

One of Dominic Savio’s battle cries was “I
want to become a Saint.” Don Bosco offered him a gift one
day. Little Dominic answered him, “The only gift I want is that
you make me a Saint.” God heard his words. Late one
afternoon, on a hot muggy day in June, June 12, 1954, to be exact, Pope
Pius XII declared Dominic Savio a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church,
extending to him all the honors of the altar. It was obvious to all
that the weight of all the tragedy, of the World War he and the Church
had lived through, had taken its toll on the ailing saintly Pope. But
his voice belied his tired body, as he boomed out the declaration of the
church welcoming this heroic, holy young man into the Glorified Ranks of
the Church Triumphant - the Saints.

Dominic, intercede for our youth of today
that they might have the courage to desire Sainthood, and in so doing
live a chaste life, that they may also receive and accept God’s Grace to
live like you with the motto:

“Death, but not sin!”

St. Dominic Savio, you have made us laugh
and cry as we have written your short but full life. It is finished,
but you will be with us, till we face each other in Heaven. St.
Dominic Savio, save a place for us.

Family, the role of the Family has been
under outrageous attack for as long as I can remember, going back at
least to the end of World War II. There has been a systematic, planned
attack to destroy the family as we know it. We were victims of it in
the 1960’s when our young people were bombarded with drug orientation in
schools, in neighborhoods, in the songs of the day, (Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds, referring to LSD and Puff the Magic Dragon, referring to
Marijuana. There are most likely many more; these are just the ones our
family was subjected to) no matter where you looked, our young people
were under attack. The plan seems to have worked, because the assault
has only accelerated these last 60 years. The media, especially
television, has made the family into dysfunctional morons, with the
father being the most ignorant of the morons (Modern Family, Roseanne,
Married with Children, Everybody loves Raymond).

It’s really important for us to have Role
Models. We have spent the last twenty years writing about Saints, whom
we believe are powerful role models for ourselves and our families. And
in this Good Newsletter, This Holy Family issue, we want to focus on the
Holy Families that produced the Saints we venerate today as Role
Models. We want to begin with Sts. John Bosco, and Domic Savio.

Don
Bosco - Out of the Darkness

It was the year 1815; Napoleon Bonaparte had
just been defeated, but his iron grip on the Piedmontese area of
northern Italy could still be felt. He had bled the country of all its
natural resources. The people were left to their own devices to
survive, or starve. Dead bodies were found strewn all over the
countryside each morning, having starved to death the night before. It
was hard times for the common people, who had nothing to do with the
political upheavals of the day. But they were the victims. They looked
for a place to begin again.

Masses of migrants descended on the big city
of Turin, Italy. Families had deserted their farms, fresh air, and the
fragrances of the land, in exchange for the sweat and stench of close
quarters in these newlyfound slums, all in the hopes of a new life. But
some were still holding on to the lives, their families had lived for
centuries in the little hamlets, the rolling hills of northern Italy.
One of these villages, Becchi, was to be the birthplace of one of the
most powerful men in our Church. On the day after the Feast of the
Assumption in 1815, our Lady gave us a gift, in the birth of John
Melchior Bosco, in this unknown place, which is still not on the map of
Italy today.

He was born of strong peasant stock, Francis
and Margaret. Theirs was a large household to feed. Francis’ invalid
mother, as well as a son by his first wife, plus John and his brother
Joseph, created a major financial burden on the young couple. The
fruits of their land were not enough to take care of the family, so
Francis worked at other jobs to bring extra income into the house. It
was while he worked for a landowner that he contracted pneumonia and
died. John was barely two years old. John always remembered his
mother’s words, although he could not remember his father: “You have no
father, Johnny.”

With the father and main breadwinner gone,
many families would have fallen apart, but not the family of Margaret
Bosco. She had been given special graces by the Lord, to hold onto and
provide for her family’s welfare and growth. She used them. She took
care of her bedridden mother-in-law, a step-son, and her own two
children. She had the greatest influence on Don Bosco. While he has
been given the honor of being among the Communion of Saints, his mother
has to be right there next to him, sharing the glory (The Cause for the Canonization
of Margaret Bosco has been opened. She has been elevated to the title
of Venerable Margaret Bosco).

Penny has always shared her amazement at how
much scripture her mother knew, although she never went to High School.
She was always quoting scripture. The same would apply to Margaret
Bosco. She could not read or write, yet she taught her children their
Faith. A natural question might be, “Yes, but how much could she have
taught them?” The response would be to point to the fruits of her
teaching, St. John Bosco. Case closed!

There has been an ongoing dispute about the
value of absorbing huge amounts of information, compared with the
simple, uncluttered teachings of our ancestors. Francis of Assisi
distrusted books and learning. Don Bosco, on the other hand, was a
great proponent of learning. We have to believe that a great deal has
to do with faith. Where is the information coming from, and how does it
glorify God? Margaret Bosco was very clear on that point. Whatever she
taught her children was to point them towards God.

The children were not spoiled in any way.
It would have been impossible. Hers was a monumental task. There was
no place for frills in their lives. Margaret believed that she was
training her children for the difficult world they lived in. They all
worked hard. Simple proverbs like “Idleness is the devil’s workshop”
guided her in every step of their upbringing. They ate little. They
put up with all the hardships imaginable. But they became strong,
physically and spiritually. John began working at four years old. The
whole family pitched in with the housework. It was good training for
the life John would live as a religious. We can’t help but think, Our
Lady had a direct hand in raising John.

The pattern of John Bosco’s life was
pre-determined, his vocation and his work within his vocation. He would
be a priest, and he would work with children. While he was a normal
child, he was very focused. Once his goal had been given him, he worked
feverishly towards that end. He learned to read which was a great
accomplishment, in that time and place. But the great value of learning
to read was that he was in great demand during the cold winter months,
to read to his friends and their parents. He had a captive audience; so
they had to play by his rules. He began each of his performances with
two solemn signs of the Cross and two Hail Mary’s, reverently prayed.
Then he would read to them.

During the summertime, on Sunday afternoons,
when the children were all out playing, John Bosco found another way to
keep their attention, entertain them and lead them in prayer. He became
a juggler, acrobat and clown. He was so smart. The Lord told him
exactly what to do, to captivate the children, who were to be the goal
of his life. But he was given an extra added gift. Children of all
ages came to watch the show. He set up a corner of the field near his
home, with a rope tied between two trees. He performed sleight of hand
tricks; he juggled; he walked the tightrope; he did cartwheels. But he
also led them in five decades of the Rosary and gave them a short talk,
which he’d borrowed from the priest’s homily at Mass that morning. He
shortened the homily, changed it a little and made it his own. He gave
them insights; they had not received at Mass that day.

Don’t get the impression that John was
perfect at his avocation right away. He watched every performer that
came into the public squares of the town, then went home and imitated
them. But in the learning process, he fell many times from the
tightrope, landed on his face doing cartwheels and walking on his hands,
and missed many a card trick or sleight of hand. But he got up every
time and continued on, until he perfected his act.

While there’s no question that he was
bringing the Lord to the people in a simpler way, sugar-coated with the
antics he performed, he was also being trained in preaching to people
and bringing them closer to Jesus. He learned how to capture their
attention, by using everything he had ever learned and then turning it
in the direction of the Lord. As far as he was concerned, he was giving
everything over to the Lord; but at the same time, the Lord was
preparing him for a mighty apostolate.

John’s love for God and his Church, was
well-known throughout the entire area. Priests, as well as lay-people,
could see the special qualities in the boy. He wanted very much to
receive Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. But the rule was, no one could
receive until he was at least twelve or thirteen years old. An
exception was made, however, for John. He knew at age ten, what many
people never know all their lives. Jesus was there in the consecrated
Bread and Wine, alive and present, nurturing. John wanted that union
with his God, desperately. When the priests realized the spiritual
depth of the boy, they allowed him to receive his First Holy Communion
at age ten.

St. John Bosco went on to do great things
for the Church and for the children of northern Italy. He was in effect
their salvation. At a given point when his group of young people became
huge, his mother Margaret came to help out, a role she continued on with
until the end of her life. Now, it’s true that John Bosco had been the
perfect example of St. Paul’s passage in Romans 8:30-31 “Those He predestined He likewise
called; those He called He also justified; and those He justified, He in
turn glorified.” We know the Lord called him and he said
yes. But don’t you think that a little of what he was given came from
his mother Margaret? Did a holy family not play a major role in the
life and accomplishments of St. John Bosco? Pray on it.

This is a story of a very famous man who is
not very well known beyond the boundaries of Arkansas, and we would like
to correct that. Ben Pinter was a farmer! Ben is one of those
Americans whose life will not be glorified; he’ll not make the national
newspapers; but he and his wife have colored the Church and our country;
and our Church and country will be richer because young, handsome Ben
Pinter saw a young pretty girl named Catherine Siebenmorgan and they
fell in love. Although Ben’s hair grew into a shimmering silver, his
impish blue eyes exposed the young man who Ben was for over 80 years.
Ben and Catherine were still in love. All you had to do was see the
gleam in their eyes as they kidded with each other, and there they were
two farm kids, still very much in love.

Ben and Catherine were always Church! And
country! Bob and I looked upon them as pillars of Sacred Heart Catholic
Church in Morrilton, Arkansas. Bob and I, and our daughter Luz Elena,
and son Brother Joseph looked upon them as the rock upon which our local
Catholic church stands, and the foundation upon which our country was
built. They were Catholic and American – and darn proud to be each of
those great God-given gifts to the world. They both always had that
teen-age innocence in their eyes, but make no mistake they knew what was
happening. We always felt safe with them around. We spoke the same
language. We loved Mother Church and our country, the United States of
America.

They always said and acted as if Holy Family
Mission was theirs and there was no question as to their loyalty and
involvement! They would walk in with new, fresh plants and replace the
plants looking sorry for wear. As the seasons of the Church changed, so
did the floral arrangements they made and placed on the Altar in the
Conference Center and the Altar in the Holy House under the regal statue
of Our Lady of Loreto. Although Ben has beaten us to the throne of God
our Father, he is present on every inch of Holy Family Mission; and when
the door opens to the Mission, we just know Ben is about to walk in,
carrying a large casserole and yummy pecan pie Catherine has just
baked. Whenever we had a pot luck affair, Ben and Catherine were
always the first to volunteer!

We were and are family!! I could always get
their son Gerry to work on a project by threatening that we would tell
his parents. Like so many of the families here, including Brother
Joseph’s, they named him after St. Gerard Majella, the Saint of happy
births. Ben and Catherine donated to our country and to our Church 16
children (one died); 38 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, and we
had the gift to spend several days with them as we all stood by Ben’s
hospital bed, praying and hugging our Ben!

We want to share a little bit about Ben’s
struggle for the last two years with cancer. He never complained. We
visited him in the hospital after his first surgery, when they were
poking and jabbing him. He but never let on that he was in real agony.
We watched as his body deteriorated, while his spirit seemed to become
stronger and stronger. Everything, according to Ben, was in God’s
hands. Whatever God willed, that was okay with Ben. We had gotten a
first class relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos in New Orleans, and
gave it to Ben. He kept it with him all the time. He prayed for the
intercession of Blessed Seelos, but his final word was, “Whatever God
wants.” He was able to celebrate his last Thanksgiving with his family
this last year. He struggled through it, but it was important for him
to give this final gift to them. He tried not to let them know how bad
he was feeling, until Sunday night, when the holiday was officially
over. He asked the family to bring him back to the hospital. He never
returned to his home.

We watched as Ben prepared himself for his
passing from this life to his entrance into Heaven. We say that because
we truly believe Ben went straight up. You know the expression, “If Ben
didn’t go straight up, there’s no chance for any of us.” His whole
family was around him for those last few days. He had his rosary in his
hand all the time. He mumbled prayers the entire time, when he was not
talking to Catherine or one of the children. The four of us went to be
with him on Monday. Penny and Luz Elena went to be with him for the
next day, until just before he died. At one point, Catherine told Ben
that Blessed Seelos would be waiting to welcome him into Heaven. He
said, “I hope I’m worthy for Blessed Seelos to bring me into Heaven.”
We went to the 5:00 pm Mass at our Parish. Ben died during that Mass,
at 5:20 pm. A dear friend, Barbara Corrales from California, who knew
Ben and Catherine very well, called and told us she was praying her
Divine Mercy prayers when Ben died. It was 3:20 pm in California. We
truly believe a Heavenly cortege was waiting for Ben, to bring him into
the Kingdom.

Bob and I, Luz Elena and Brother Joseph have
known beautiful, faithful soldiers of Christ, but one of the greatest
faith-filled champions of Jesus and Mary has touched our hearts and we
will never be the same! Ben’s body rests in the cemetery located on the
road adjacent to Monastery Ridge Road which leads up to the entrance of
our Holy Family Mission; and you can be assured, there is never a day,
when we pass the cemetery, we do not wave and call out, “We love you, Ben!”

Beloved, we are in the company of Angels
from on high; but sadly, we are also besieged by fallen angels. As they
were all created by God, sometimes it is difficult to discern one from
the other, except by signs! In one of our previous Good Newsletters, we
included a song we always share at the end of one of our talks. The
name of it is: You will know
them by their fruits. We have dedicated our lives to
bringing you the fruits of our Faith Belief! We began with Miracles of
the Eucharist – how they came about at times we needed them! The Truth
has always been under attack in the battle for our souls. Why, people
often ask us, why now? Why did we not know of these miracles in years
past? Why now!! Could it be that God wants us to know, now, we are not
alone, that He is with us, as He promised, till the end of the earth?
All we have to do is go to church and get down on your knees – pray and
then be quiet – listen as if your life depends on it, as it probably
does.

As you may have heard us say, God is in
charge! He has given us a safety net to keep us from falling – a net of
truths that has come down to us down through the centuries. And
although the fallen angels would attempt to lead us astray, God sends
down His Heavenly Army of Angels to do battle for our souls. Like the
fallen angels, they make take different forms, and you may have to
listen carefully, first with your ears and then with your very soul!

As we have written over and over again, we are in the worst of times; we
are in the best of times! I would not want to be born in any
other time, in any other country! We can make a difference!
We have inherited, through the wisdom and sacrifices of our ancestors, a
free land – one that has been saved by the blood of our soldiers, war
after war. We have a say!!
We must not think only of today, with the candy-coated promises that
often turn out to be lies. We must look at our family around us. We
are responsible for their future! We need to look at them with the eyes
of our minds (human reasoning) and then with the eyes of our heart.
What kind of world are we leaving them? We have given our lives to
bring the truth to you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and in so
doing, God has allowed us, through EWTN, to touch you! We love you!
You know that! We love our American brothers and sisters, as well as
our loved ones all over the world. We must, with one voice, proclaim
God is in charge! Proclaim He is the King of our lives! We have a
responsibility! God created our nation with all the gifts we would need
to grow and prosper! To give any mortal being credit is to demean His
gift and His love! Our vision must be to listen to God and do what we
truly believe He is saying! It’s no great revelation! Study the
Bible! Trace and follow the path of those who have gone before us!

We love you! That you know! We love our
Church and her Founder Jesus Christ! We love our country and all who
have gone before us to make this the country of the free! Do not allow
anyone to rob you of the dream! Turn to Mother Mary to guide you. We
are the only country consecrated to the Immaculate Conception! When you
make your decision who to follow, ask yourself, Who would Our Mother
Mary lead us to follow! We love you; but more importantly, Jesus and
Mary love you. God bless you and our country.

Long may our flag wave over this land of the
free and home of the brave!

At the beginning of
January, we were writing for our column, From My Pew,
and I was thumbing through our life story, The Journey and the
Dream, looking
for inspiration,when I came upon
the page which has pictures of George and Margaret Helow with us, at
Mother Angelica’s 75th birthday celebration. It brought back
the many beautiful memories of pilgrimages and occasions we shared. I
just felt compelled to speak with them. I called! I cannot tell you
why I had such an urgency to reach them on the phone! Their wonderful
son, Joseph, gave me the phone number, where I could reach his mother.

For the past twenty some
years we have been communicating with our two dear friends, George and
Margaret, who were more like family. There were the two great
attributes we found in this special couple, quiet dignity and strong
Catholic Faith. We had been together on many pilgrimages where they
marveled at the beauty of our Church and the Saints who came before us.
We always had a common bond with George and Margaret over the years,
even though we didn’t get to see each other that often. They kept in
touch, forever excited about our work, always supportive of us. For the
longest time, George and Margaret invited us to spend quality time at
their home at the beach, writing. Although the invitation was enticing,
we never had a chance to take advantage of their generosity, as we were
often writing on the run. Then two years ago, we were invited to speak
at a retreat center in the community where they lived, and at last were
able to share their beautiful, special, loving family. They were a
reflection of their parents and grandparents, quiet dignity and strong
Catholic Faith.

When I spoke with Margaret
this January, I finally understood my urgency to speak with our dear
friends. Margaret sadly informed me our dearly beloved brother George
was dying. Then the next day, their son Joseph called and advised us
George had passed away on that day. We knew we had to be with Margaret
to comfort her in her grief, and share the celebration of George’s life
and his new voyage into the Kingdom to prepare a place for him and his
spouse. We immediately made arrangements to be with the family. As we
traveled, it was incredulous to accept our dear friend and brother in
Christ was gone, all we could do was try to fight back the tears. Their
grandson Paul drove us to his grandparent’s home. We were graciously
welcomed by Margaret, who, despite her grief, was concerned we have
enough to eat. Their home was filled with children and grandchildren,
along with friends and neighbors arriving with trays and trays of food,
enough for an army.

The family treated us like
we were truly family! What beautiful children and grandchildren! We
stayed awhile and one of their grandchildren guided us out of the
subdivision where George and Margaret lived. But before we left they
invited us to attend Mass with them, the next day, and join them praying
their morning prayers. They later shared that, from the time they were
children, their parents led them in prayers, after Mass each morning.
Good work, George and Margaret!

The following day, Friday,
after Mass and morning prayers, Katherine, their daughter, led us to
George and Margaret’s home, where you guessed it, we were greeted with
Margaret insisting we partake of the most delicious, appetizing
goodies. We spent some time there with the family and then excused
ourselves to get a little rest, as we had not slept for eighteen hours,
the day before. Paul, their grandson, had wisely suggested we stay at
the hotel, which was conveniently located on the same street as Holy
Family Church, the church where the Rosary and the Funeral Mass was to
take place. The Rosary and the visitation were filled to overflowing.
It was beautiful! The husbands of George and Margaret’s five daughters
came up and spoke not as in-laws but as sons who loved and were loved by
George and Margaret. Again, the family was gracious and concerned about
us and our welfare. We had our time with our George right after his
family. I will not belittle the grief! Their 47 grandchildren were
attentive and sorrowful. George and Margaret were central in the life
of their family, their home a haven of spirituality and love - no
favorites; all were loved and revered; and their family responded in the
like.

The next day was the
Funeral! We didn’t expect the attendance – the church again filled to
overflowing. You would think that the entire church was filled with
family – the grief spilling from the eyes of men and women alike.
George and Margaret’s eldest child, their son Joseph’s Eulogy was one of
the most touching we have ever heard, one of dire respect and
overflowing love - a son’s love letter to his father.

When it was time for the
graveside ceremony, there were no less than 100 cars in procession,
friends and family paying their final respect to a man who well deserved
it.

Although it was sad saying
goodbye to a dear brother and sincere friend, it was glorious getting to
know the full scope of this great unassuming man. He and Margaret were
among the best, sweetest pilgrims we ever had the joy to lead on
pilgrimage. This great man and woman were so gentle and undemanding, we
never had a glimmer of all the involvement they had in our Church and in
our country. We love you, George! We are proud to have known you.
We will miss you! You made a stamp on our hearts and we and the world
will never be the same.

This past week, Bob and
I went, along with our daughter Luz Elena, to New Mexico, to attend the
investiture of our dear spiritually adopted son, Father Bennett Joachim
Voorhies to Monsignor, Chaplain to Pope Benedict.

We have attended many fine, inspiring
moments in our Church, but the Mass and the investiture of Father
Bennett to Monsignor, (or Father Jay, as we tenderly have called him
since the day we met him twenty-five years ago), has to have topped them
all. The entire ceremony, from beginning to end, was Mother Church at
her most glorious. It was awe-inspiring! There were more like 50 to 60
priests and bishops concelebrating the Mass, with Archbishop Sheehan as
the main celebrant, and Father Jay and his dear brother Father Tom
assisting.

The Church is alive! The church, The
Annunciation, was filled with parishioners from not only that church but
from the other churches Father (now, Monsignor) served as Pastor. There
was standing room only! Thank God our new Monsignor had considerately
reserved seats for us, along with his sister Jan and cousin Lynn. We
came almost forty minutes early and the church was already packed!
After the reception, we retired, gearing up for our pilgrimage to our
beloved Conquistadora, the next day.

This was to be Luz Elena’s first trip to
Santa Fe and to our Lady Conquistadora’ s shrine. The Cathedral was
breathtakingly beautiful, befitting our Queen! When we entered the
chapel where her statue is poised regally, and our eyes travelled upward
toward Our Lady in white, we could feel our hearts swelling as we
unashamedly let tears spill from our eyes. She was so beautiful!!

This was not the first time we have been
with Our Conquistadora. Our son, Monsignor Jay, would not let us rest
till he got us to come to New Mexico and film Our Conquistadora and the
yearly awesome, inspiring procession which filed down the main street
accompanying her to her little ancient church where she would rest for
one week before she was returned to the Cathedral.

We bought three candles to light at her
feet. The three of us had very important petitions to present to Our
Lady for her kind intercession! We prayed, even though we didn’t dare
hope for a miracle! Oh, you of so little faith, Penny! We have a very
dear beloved young man at EWTN, whom we have known and loved since he
first came to EWTN. Peter married a beautiful girl and the two of them
would bring to earth six precious children. We have known tremendous
joy being part of their family and they a part of ours.

July of 2011 we received a phone call
advising us that our dear Peter had contracted Lukemia and was in the
hospital. He and his family are so beloved of not only us but of
countless friends he and his family have made. Prayers started to pour
in. Masses have been said! Then last week, we found out Peter had
developed a fever of 103! It
lasted for days. The doctors could not find the cause or the
cure! On Saturday, January the 14th, we knelt before our
Lady, La Conquistadora, with candles burning we trembled as we begged
Our Mother to conquer Peter’s fever, but again not daring to hope!

Sunday morning, before returning home, we
called Peter to learn THE FEVER HAD DROPPED TO NORMAL!

Our Lady who conquers, conquered the
fever!! Pray with us, She conquers the Lukemia!! We love you!!

What is the teaching of this story? What is
Our Lady trying to tell us?? We are not alone!! Our Lord is with us,
and as He did at Cana, He is listening to His Mother!! BELIEVE!! WE
ARE NOT ALONE AND HELPLESS!! PRAY!

The second paragraph of
Declaration of Independence starts with the following words:“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as
to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness…”

Today I want to discuss our unalienable
Rights. The framers of our Constitution were Christians for the most
part and believed in one God. They also were very aware of all the
problems that can come about when a leader takes on too much power. Some
of them had experienced persecution in their former homelands. For
these reasons they wanted to put into words the fact that we have
unalienable Rights endowed by our Creator.

It is most important to us today that the
Constitution framers placed those words in the Declaration of
Independence. They wanted everyone to know that these Rights came
directly from God our Creator
and no one not even a King could take them away from us. Any infraction
against that one sentence will start an uproar about our Rights to this
day.

Recently we have and are experiencing a lot
of rhetoric about Rights according to our conscience. Remember our
Rights come from God and no one can take them away and that is the basis
of all the Rights disputes. The Bishops of the United States sent out a
letter about the Right of conscience being taken away with regards to
abortive services in the Health Care Bill. The root of the confrontation
comes from the fact that no one or entity can take away that right -
because God has given it to us.

If ever there was a time to pray for the
continued Judeo Christian tradition of our country and the safety of our
unalienable Rights – that time is now. Let us resolve to ask God our
Heavenly Father to guide us this year and protect us.

This Lenten Season let us remember that our
Country was founded under God and we have to be diligent every day to
protect these unalienable Rights so that our children and grandchildren
can enjoy
Religious freedom and all our other God given Rights.

Furthemore, this is election year and let us
study the platforms of each candidate and especially note where they
stand on the issue of unalienable Rights - that might give you a clue
about the direction he or she would go with regards to any legislation
coming up.

Thought for this week – Pray for our country
and leaders and may God continue to protect our unalienable Rights.